Grof Academy
by butterfliesfalling
Summary: Marceline Abadeer meets Bonnibel Bubblegum at the beach as a child. There first encounter ends with Bonnie crying and Marceline questioning her choice of friends. The two of them meet again at private school and become arch enemies (not really). A story about growing up.


The first time Bonnie met Marceline, they were five and seven. Bonnibel Bubblegum had been making a three story sandcastle, complete with a surrounding kingdom, huge walls, and a moat. She was wearing a one piece pink bathing suit with frills on top and a sheer magenta scarf with a floral pattern tied around her waist. Her floppy sunhat was, of course; also pink, as well as her star shaped sunglasses. Her lips and tongue were stained pink from a strawberry Popsicle she had been eating earlier, and even her toes and fingernails were painted a matching shade of fuchsia. She worked at her kingdom with an intense concentration; every building had tiny details such as doors, windows, and chimneys. It was easy to tell that she was quite a bit smarter than your average five-and-three-quarter-year-old.

Marceline Abadeer did not like the beach. She was too old to do baby things like make sandcastles and pick shells from tide pools, and she hated the sun. When her guardian had decided that a beach day was in order, she had insisted on taking her best friend, Ash, along too. Her guardian had been afraid that they would cause trouble, but Marcy had _insisted _that they would be nothing less than angels. That, or course, had been a lie; the moment her guardian had taken his eyes off of her, she and Ash decided that beach wrestling would be great fun. That was how she met Bonnie.

Marceline jumped on Ash's back and they landed with an "ooph" on the sand. As soon as Marcy was standing, and Ash no longer had the wind knocked out of him, they began shoving each other back and forth. Ash was pushing especially hard after Marceline's unfair attack. Her right foot had pushed back to support herself after Ash had shoved her shoulders with both hands. It landed directly on top of one of Bonnie's gumball machine-shaped guard towers.

"Whoa, Marcy!" Ash cried.

"No!" Bonnie screeched.

Marceline lost her balance and fell backwards. She threw her hands behind her to catch her fall, each one landing on a half finished house. Her upper body landed directly on top of the castle with her legs crossing the moat. Sand filled her surf shorts and scratched her mostly bare back. Bonnibel burst into tears.

"Marcy, you okay?" Ash asked and looked towards Bonnie. "Hey, stop the waterworks will you? It's only a sandcastle!"

Bonnie started crying even harder and tucked her knees to her chest. Marceline stood up and started dusting herself off. She attempted to shake the sand out of her shorts to no success.

"I'm fine Ash, and stop being so mean to the little girl!"

At this, Bonnie stood up; "I'm not a little girl! I am five years old and I can do _science_."

Ash burst out laughing; "Haha this little girl says she can do _science._"

"Ash, don't be so mean!" Marceline exclaimed, but a tug at her lips revealed that she was holding back laughter herself. "Maybe we should help her rebuild the castle."

"Help _her_? That castle was so ugly that she should be thankful that we ruined it!"

"Ash-"

"Marceline! It's time to drive Ash home!" Marceline was cut off by a man in his late forties. "Please don't tell me you're... Oh my frost! What have you done? Why is she crying?"

Marceline and Ash pointed to each other said at the same time:

"Ash did it!"

"Marceline fell on it!"

Bonnibel just continued to cry.

"Were you two wrestling again? What did I say about wrestling on the beach?" The man said, exasperated.

"Not to..." Marceline sighed, dejected.

"It would have been fine if you weren't so weak that I pushed you down!" Ash cried.

"Well, you shouldn't have been pushing her in the first place!" The man said, wiping sweat of his forehead. "Now, are you okay? Did they upset you?"

"She's fine, she can do science!" Ash snickered.

"Why are you being so mean!?" Bonnie shouted.

The other three stared at her. She was breathing heavily and wiping away tears. "I just wanted to build my kingdom in piece! Just go away!"

The man grabbed Marceline and Ash by their hands and pulled them away. When they got to the parking lot he turned around and gave them his hardest glare, which wasn't very scary at all.

"I can't believe you two behaved like that. Ash, when I tell your parents-

"But she can-

"Shut up Ash!" Marceline shouted.

" Marceline! Language! If we weren't in such a rush you two would be back there helping her rebuild that castle and apologizing on your knees."The man said.

"Simon! I told you that it was Ash's fault!" Marceline cried.

"And who decided that it was a good idea to wrestle in the sand?" Simon questioned. "Now both of you, get in the car before Ash's parents think that I've kidnapped him again."

The car ride to Ash's house was silent. When he got out, Simon went with him and had a chat with his parents. From what little Marceline could see through the front door, Ash appeared to be crying. Marceline sighed, why did she have such a lame friend? Simon returned to the car, but almost ten minutes of driving passed before he spoke:

"If something like that ever happens again-

"You will never take me to the beach again, I know" Marceline sighed once more.

"Actually, I was going to say that I would send you to Grof Academy."

"What? But only the weird kids go there!" Marceline exclaimed.

"You know that's not true, lots of nice kids go there, like Raini Yoon, or Jake Mertens. Don't you get along with them?" Simon asked.

"They're okay, but I don't want to leave Ash! He is my best friend!"

"Well, if you want to stay with him so badly, the two of you need to start behaving."

"We will!" Marceline promised.

Later that night, Marceline sat in bed thinking about Grof Academy. She knew that the kids there weren't really all that strange, in reality it was usually the most intelligent kids who attended it, but she was just going into grade three, and a private school was daunting. It was true that she liked Raini and Jake, and Jake's little brother Finn was adorable, but she would miss Ash so much. Sure, he could be mean sometimes... well, most of the time, but he was her only friend, and she couldn't imagine a whole school year without him.

Marceline lay in her bed clutching her beloved Hambo. He was the first thing that Simon had bought for her when she was adopted. Now, his left ear had lost a few stitches, and his right arm had had to be sewn back on after a fight with Ash, but he was still her prized possession. In that first moment when Simon had given him to her, he had been more like a father than her's had ever been, but to this day she refused to call him dad.

Even Hambo could only comfort her so much, but she still didn't shed a tear over Simon's threat. She soon started thinking about the rest of the day, and that strange pink girl from the beach. _She looked like a piece of bubblegum _Marceline giggled.

Bonnibel brushed her teeth for a whole two minutes every night. Her parents insisted on it because of how much candy she ate. She was a pretty healthy person; she did ballet twice a week and always played on the monkeys bars at school. She even ate all of the greens that her parents put in front of her, but she had a sweet spot for all things sugary. Kids had made fun of her at kindergarten last year for her last name and how much candy she ate, but Bonnie could always pride herself on her perfect teeth.

This year Bonnibel was starting the first grade at Grof Academy, and even though the summer was only halfway through, she had already started studying. She wasn't even six yet, but she had started reading chapter books at the beginning of the year. She could even do multiplication and division and had memorized the table of elements. Bonnie was only slightly aware of how far ahead of her classmates she was. Her parents had placed her in Grof Academy in hopes of her finding other children as gifted as she was, but it was unlikely.

Bonnie worried about school as she pulled on her pyjamas and climbed into bed. What if she couldn't find any friends? Or if her teacher was mean? She was quite the worrier for an almost-six-year-old. What if that mean boy from the beach was at the school? That would be terrible! Or even that girl, although now that she thought about it, the girl didn't seem as mean as the boy, but she _did _fall on her sand-candy kingdom.

That girl was kind of intimidating with her extremely pale skin and pitch black hair. She was almost like a ghost, or a vampire! Bonnie squirmed at the thought. She even had her ears pierced! For some reason that strange girl, "Marceline", was all she could think of until at last she fell asleep.


End file.
